This application relates generally to medical imaging devices. More specifically, this application relates to systems and methods for remote maintenance of medical imaging devices.
Modern medical imaging systems may be broadly said to rely on a single umbrella concept that is implemented in a variety of different ways with a number of different kinds of systems: radiation is propagated into the tissue of a patient, received after it scatters within the tissue, and used to reconstruct an image of interior structure so that a physician can make a diagnosis. The most common forms of radiation used are electromagnetic and acoustic. Electromagnetic radiation is used in such devices as traditional X-ray machines that produce projection radiographs, computed tomography (“CT”) and computed axial tomograph (“CAT”) machines that produce tomograms, mammography devices that produce mammograms, and others. These techniques may at times be used with substances delivered to the patient, particularly radioisotopes that emit markers that can be imaged and used in functional studies. Magnetic-resonance imaging (“MRI”) uses the creation of a magnetic field in which a patient rests so that when radio waves are pulsed into tissue they cause hydrogen atoms to resonate, releasing energy that can be used for imaging. These techniques are especially useful in imaging soft tissues in the body, and radio waves have a sufficiently long wavelength that, unlike techniques that use higher energy radiation, they are nonionizing.
Acoustic radiation, which is also nonionizing, is also used in a variety of different ways, usually through some form of ultrasonography in which acoustic waves in the megahertz range are delivered to tissue. Variants include the use of B scans, the use of Doppler effects in the imaging of bloodflow, and the use of techniques to generate three-dimensional images. In some cases, imaging is achieved through a combined use of acoustic and electromagnetic techniques, exploiting advantages from both types of techniques to increase the useful diagnostic information that is collected.
Still other imaging methods are used in other specialized applications. For example, thermographic techniques may be used to detect infrared radiation emanating from the body in the form of heat, with variations in the heat distribution providing diagnostic imaging information.
Accurate diagnosis by physicians depends critically on the proper functioning of the device used to deliver the different forms of radiation. Although the different kinds of medical imaging devices have particular designs and properties, all of them have a number of different components that interact in forming the irradiating field and in detecting the radiation emanating from the patient's body to generate an image. It is possible for the devices to function even if some component is malfunctioning, but the quality of the information may be degraded as a result of the malfunction.
Detection of malfunctions is thus a nontrivial task and most manufacturers of medical imaging devices include some diagnostic features in an effort to identify inoperable or malfunctioning components. These diagnostic features are inherently limited, providing an evaluation only of a portion of the total functionality of the devices. Moreover, when a malfunction is identified, there can be considerable downtime for the device while it undergoes evaluation to identify the specific cause of the malfunction and while repairs are effected, potentially interfering with scheduled medical procedures.
There is thus a general need in the art for early and reliable monitoring and maintenance of medical imaging devices.